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Credit Where Credit's Due
| story = Rob Thomas | teleplay = Rob Thomas | directed = | hidec = | prev = Pilot | next = Meet John Smith }} "Credit Where Credit's Due" was the second episode of the first season of Veronica Mars. In this episode, Veronica's newfound friend Weevil is arrested for credit card fraud, and she goes on the case to figure out who actually did the crime. Synopsis When Weevil's grandmother is accused of credit card fraud, Veronica sets out to prove her innocence. Also, Veronica enrolls in journalism class, taught by Ms. Dent, leading to an uncomfortable car ride with Duncan. Veronica and Keith find a major clue in the Lilly Kane Murder Case. Summary and his biker gang crash an 09er party. ]] Veronica is at Neptune High figuring out what to do on Friday when Wallace approaches her and suggests that she come to an 09er party with him. Veronica explains to Wallace what an 09er is as he has not heard of them before. After Veronica explains the details and the code on the invitation, she declines. She tells him that she would not go to another 09er party because she experienced them before and it is not her type of place for having fun. At the Neptune Beach, the 09er party has begun and Duncan Kane introduces his new friend Troy Vandegraff to Logan Echolls and his girlfriend Caitlin Ford. As the party is going on, Weevil, Felix Toombs, and their friends arrive at the party to begin insulting Logan and the other 09ers. As the argument progresses, Sheriff Lamb and a deputy arrives to break up the fight and all the teenagers run away, leaving the alcohol for Lamb to take. The next morning, Lamb arrives at Weevil's house and arrests his grandmother, Leticia Navarro, on a charge of credit card fraud. As Lamb and his deputy arrest Leticia, he says to Weevil that somebody took credit card offers from the Echolls family trash, opened accounts, and ran up charges on them. The accounts lead to Leticia's P.O. Box. At Mars Investigations, Leticia's lawyer, Cliff McCormack, reads off a list of charges used by the identity thief to Veronica and Keith. talking to Weevil about the charges against Leticia Navarro.]] Veronica visits Weevil to ask him about Leticia's case. Weevil prefers not to answer Veronica even when Veronica reminds him that Leticia is in jail. Weevil tells Veronica that he doesn't trust her; he believes she is loyal to 09ers even though she tries to be an outsider. At a restaurant the next day, Lamb interrupts Veronica and Keith eating lunch together. Lamb proceeds to insult Keith and the two exchange barbs over the Lilly Kane Murder Case. Keith brings up Lamb's arrest of Abel Koontz and insinutats that it was a stupid move. Lamb counters that Keith blamed Jake Kane for the murder. When both Veronica and Keith have nothing to say, Lamb and the deputy leave. Veronica tells her father that she needs to return to school as her counselor wants to talk to her. introduces Veronica to Newspaper Class.]] After seeing the counselor, Veronica runs into Troy Vandegraff waiting for his own appointment. After Troy leaves, Wallace arrives at the meeting room and tells Veronica that due to having not enough students to form a swimming team, Wallace is to be an Office Aide for the school. Veronica is delighted and immediately asks Wallace to copy Weevil's attendance records. Veronica wants to know if he has been absent at the time of any of fraud credit card charges. Veronica then enters the classroom for Newspaper Class and introduces herself to the teacher, Mallory Dent, and says that the counselor placed her in this class due to her being disconnected and passionless. As she leaves, Veronica tells Ms. Dent that she would like to take photos for the class and that she prefers to use her own camera. Ms. Dent tells her that she already has an assignment for her for the next day and introduces Veronica to her partner for the assignment, Duncan Kane. As Veronica looks back at the entrance door, she sees Wallace holding a file containing copies of Weevil's attendance records. and Wallace discuss the evidence.]] During lunch, Veronica and Wallace examine the credit card reports and the attendance records. Veronica discovers that a majority of the charges were online orders and were mostly made during 11:00am – 12:00pm, the school's fourth period. Veronica wonders how Weevil could made the charges during that time period as he was enrolled in an auto shop class during fourth period and would thus have no access to an internet connection. Back at Mars Investigations, Veronica tells Cliff and Keith that she doesn't think Leticia is the one who made the fraudulent charges. As she tries to explain, Cliff tells Veronica that Leticia has already been released from jail. Veronica is happy to hear the news until Cliff explains that she was released because Weevil confessed to the crime. Back in newspaper class, Veronica interrupts Logan Echolls' socializing with Caitlin by loudly stating to no-one in particular that identity theft is mostly perpetrated by relatives of the victim. Caitlin tells Veronica that she should not speak as no one will believe her after what she and her father had done to 09ers in the past year. Logan suggests that Veronica only joined the newspaper class to be closer to Duncan. Veronica then lies to Logan saying that she has government class with him during fourth period. However, Caitlin haughtily 'corrects' her, revealing that they actually have computer lab class during fourth period and Veronica smiles at herself while they look away. During lunch, Veronica tells Wallace that she has printed out the entire browser history from Logan's computer lab machine and she found a charge for the honeymoon suite at the Neptune Grand Hotel. helping Veronica fix her flat tire.]] After school, Veronica goes to her car only to find that someone has flattened her tire for the second time in the still-young school year. As she tries to fix the tire, Troy Vandegraff offers to help her while introducing himself. Across the parking lot, Caitlin and Logan watch Troy helping Veronica and Caitlin shows distaste. During the replacement of the tire, Duncan arrives and offers Veronica a ride to their newspaper assignment on surfer, Bodie Chang. Due to the tight schedule, Veronica has no choice but to go with Duncan. Troy offers to fix her tire while she is away. picking up trash.]] Veronica is very uncomfortable during the ride to the beach with Duncan. Duncan comments on how Lilly had loved the song playing on the radio. Veronica remembers riding in a car with Lilly and Lilly telling her that her mother didn't really like Veronica. Lilly advised Veronica to watch out for her mother as she would do anything to break up her relationship with Duncan. As Duncan drives by a group of people from jail doing their work, Veronica sees Weevil wearing an orange jumpsuit, picking up trash. At the beach, Duncan interviews Bodie Chang while Veronica takes pictures. On the way home, Veronica and Duncan are pulled over by the Sheriff's Department. They are informed that the car Duncan is driving has accumulated a large number of parking violations and tickets; Lilly's handiwork. As both Veronica and Duncan's parents pick them up from the road, Veronica recalls how Keith and Jake Kane were together in an interrogation room after the death of Lilly Kane and how Keith blaming Jake impacted Veronica's life as she stood by her father's side. shows Keith the credit card fraud evidence.]] Veronica convinces Keith to could take her to the Neptune Grand. At the hotel, Keith pretends to be the angry father of a pregnant looking for father of her unborn child in hopes of getting surveillance video of whoever made the credit card charges. The clerk informs them that that the hotel only keeps video surveillance for two weeks but does provide the detailed billed summary related to the fraudulent charge. The bill reveals that Caitlin Ford signed for room service on the card. At newspaper class, Veronica approaches Logan and tells him that she knows he stole his mother's credit card and used it for Caitlin. Logan calmly denies her claim and tells her to prove it as he walks away. At lunch, Veronica and Wallace are talking about the case when Troy offers Veronica an invitation to a party he's hosting but Veronica vacillates. Soon after, Veronica decides to press Logan for the truth. looking at Caitlin's phone call records.]] In the computer lab, Veronica uses her phone to call numbers shown on the hotel bill. At the same time, Logan is checking Caitlin's phone from her purse and notices a phone number that she called in 1:00am. As Veronica calls the last number in the list, Logan redials a number Caitlin has called before. Veronica receives a busy signal but Logan's call is answered by another man. Veronica then calls her father and asks him to trace the number of the phone while Logan is outside trying to spot whoever in on the other end of his call. After a few moments, Logan sees him: Chardo Navarro. confronts Chardo.]] After lunch, Chardo is walking down the hallway and Logan is closing in on him, when Veronica pulls Chardo into the girls bathroom. She tells him she knows that he is the identity thief and that he was using them to spend money on Caitlin. Veronica also reminds him that Weevil is serving jail time when it should be him. Chardo is aware of what he's done and does not want Weevil or Leticia to get into trouble because of him. Chardo reveals that and Caitlin are planning to run away together after which he will write a confession so that Weevil will be released. Veronica expressed grave doubts that Caitlin will actually run of with him and suggests that he turn himself in before Logan finds him and things get worse. Chardo refuse to accept any of this and storms off. returns home from jail. ]] Veronica visits Leticia and tells her about Chardo and Weevil. Leticia informs Veronica that Chardo is a year older than Weevil and already has a criminal record. She believes that it is better for the family if Weevil, a juvenile, does a few months in jail than if Chardo takes a charge as an adult. Once Veronica makes her realize that Chardo is running up charges for spoiled 09er Caitlin, she agrees that Chardo needs to confess. Soon thereafter, Weevil is released from jail and a warrant for Chardo is issued. Chardo comes to Caitlin's house and tries to get her to leave with him. Logan and a group of 09ers arrive start a fight with Chardo as Caitlin simply watches from an upstairs window. Soon after, Weevil and his gang arrive as well. Instead of fighting, Weevil pulls Logan aside for a talk. After a short conversation, Logan orders his friends to let Chardo go and everyone leaves. is beaten by the PCHers.]] At beach, Chardo thanks Weevil and his gang for recusing him. As Chardo turns to thank Weevil, Weevil tells him that he is out of their gang and out of his life due to letting Weevil take the rap for him. As Weevil walks to his motorcycle, the other gang members start beating Chardo. Back at Mars Investigations, Veronica asks Keith why he thought Jake Kane was Lilly's killer. Keith tells Veronica that he cannot tell her since he made his decision only to try to protect Veronica and her mother. Instead, Veronica walks to the Sheriff's Department using a fake ID that she and Lilly made as a joke to ask Inga about one of Lilly's tickets. The ticket turns out to be from a red light camera; the photo shows Lilly running a red light two hours after her supposed time of death. watches Caitlin being rejected by her former 09er friends.]] Veronica realizes that the photo throws all prior theories of the case into disarray; nothing adds up any more. In particular, Jake and Celeste's alibis are no longer operative. Troy and Wallace arrive wanting to know why she did not make it to Troy's party. As she explains, they see Caitlin trying to sit with the 09ers. They did not allow her to join them so she moves to another area. As Caitlin walks away, Veronica, Troy, and Wallace depart to play Golden Tee at Sac-N-Pac. Cultural references The following cultural references are made in the episode: *Duncan references "Gettin' Jiggy wit It". *The episode references Torrey Pines Golf Course. *Veronica says "Smell ya later," a catchphrase of Nelson Muntz. *Wallace talks about James Bond. *Veronica mentions Charlie's Angels. *In flashback's, Lilly says that she reads Sassy. *Veronica and Wallace use phrases common in Blaxploitation films. Arc significance *Veronica finds out that Lilly ran a red light two hours after her supposed time of death. *Troy Vandegraff arrives in town. *Veronica begins her venture into journalism. A hobby in which her detective skills prove useful and allow her to excel. She will continue her side line journalism career throughout the entire series. *This episode marks the first appearance of Dick Casablancas, who would go on and become a series regular. Cast Main Cast *Kristen Bell as Veronica Mars *Percy Daggs III as Wallace Fennel *Teddy Dunn as Duncan Kane *Jason Dohring as Logan Echolls *Francis Capra as Eli "Weevil" Navarro *Sydney Tamiia Poitier as Mallory Dent *Enrico Colantoni as Keith Mars Guest Stars * Paris Hilton as Caitlin Ford * Michael Muhney as Don Lamb * Amanda Seyfried as Lilly Kane * Aaron Ashmore as Troy Vandegraff * Wilmer Calderon as Chardo Navarro * Irene Olga Lopez as Leticia Navarro * Daran Norris as Cliff McCormack * Kyle Secor as Jake Kane Music * "Word Up" - Korn * "Hi Lo" - Under the Influence of Giants * "Troubled Times" - Fountains of Wayne * "Here It Comes" - Longwave * "Lover" - Maureen Davis Goofs * The front of "Neptune High School" has the giant word PIRATES painted on it. The top of the word "Pirates" clearly has "Oceanside" in it, the name of the real school where this scene is shot (whose mascot is also a pirate). In later episodes, this is covered up with a banner. * Veronica and Chardo Navarro are talking in the girl's bathroom. On the front mirror is reflected, almost entirely, the camera and one hand of (presumably) the cameraman. At the same time, in the upper part of the screen, is also visible a boom mic. * Veronica states that that the ZIP code for the classy part of Neptune is "90909". There is, in fact, no such ZIP, but ZIPs beginning 90- are restricted to Los Angeles County. Neptune, in (non-existent) Balboa County, is clearly in the San Diego area, so the ZIPs should begin "92-". * When in the diner with her father, Veronica puts her cap back on twice. External links * MI.net's Roundtable Review. * Soulful Spike Society's Open Case. * Television Without Pity Recap. Category:Season 1 Episdoes